Age Well with Lifelong Learning (Thanksgiving Gift)

Every Thanksgiving I enjoy giving a gift to all of my class members as a way of saying thank you for their participation in my classes and their contribution to my aliveness. Here’s what I gave this year and why.

Aging is a process we can neither ignore nor escape: it’s constant and universal. As we age, how we choose to view ourselves along with what actions we take largely determine HOW we age.

Dear Youthful Hearts: For your gift this year I’ve chosen a unique and useful, pewter, “heart within a heart bookmarker.” To me, it symbolizes lifelong learning, a valuable asset and one of the essential practices for aging well. Education is a critical resource that has the potential to help maintain and improve the quality of our lives. Through lifelong learning we are more adaptive to the ever-changing world as we grow older. We are better able to cope with and challenge what goes on around us. Making education part of our later years promotes a sense of personal empowerment and increased self-confidence. It facilitates intellectual stimulation and continued growth, leading to a more fulfilling, enjoyable, and enriched lifestyle.

In addition, lifelong learning that keeps the mind challenged after age 50 promotes a healthy brain. Scientists have discovered that even an aging brain can grow new connections and pathways when stimulated. So whether you’re reading a good book or the newspaper, taking a class, researching online, doing crossword puzzles, exploring the world through travel programs, taking part in spirited discussions or giving back to the community through meaningful service, you’re nurturing your brain and strengthening the mind/body/spirit connection.

I hope this unique and useful “Youthful Hearts Bookmark” will serve as a beautiful reminder for you to stay inquisitive and immersed in the wonders of life, to be open to experiencing new things, to continue to explore and develop your gifts, and to keep looking for ways to use your skills and experiences to make the world a better place! ♥ Jeanette

Thank you, Jeanette, for the cute bookmark and the lovely sentiment you included. The bookmark will get quite a workout at my house – I love to read whenever I get a free moment. And, your kind words are an exact reflection of the gratitude I feel toward you! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season…Vickie

You’re an angel Vicki! So glad the bookmark will get a lot of use. I know so many of my class members are avid readers so I was hoping that it would be practical and pretty at the same time! Thanks for the confirmation.
♥Jeanette

Dear Jeanette, Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for the darling bookmark. You are such a dear. Thank you also for holding the extra holiday class. Really appreciated your doing this for us. Love your classes and you!! Blessings, Jeffrey

Hi Jeffrey, You are so welcome. It is my pleasure for sure. You continue to amaze me…that you have certain visual limitations and you don’t let it keep you from exercising! You are very inspirational to me and I love your perseverance!

We wanted to thank you for our lovely bookmarkers-both of us are readers and we are always on the look for whatever loose, crusty paper might stand in our stead–NOW–we are ahead of the game!

Your thoughtfulness and kind encouragement of Bruce this afternoon made our day–it had been a rough morning and you put us right!

I’ve never known anyone quite like you, who has found the work she loves, honed her skills that sum so much a natural part of her, and living in her joy of the honesty in all of it, spills her happiness on to all those fortunate enough to come into her path.
Thank you–You are the gift. Sue and Bruce

Awesome, Sue. What a gifted writer you are. Your words touch me deeply and I appreciate them so very much. You and Bruce are both dear to my heart and I’m so happy that are paths cross every week! Your note means so much to me that I read it to my sister Deb over Thanksgiving. She said, “Wow! How special!” ♥ Thanks for the unforgettable acknowledgement.

You are so welcome Bunny. It makes me happy to know you are using your gift. I knew I had many avid readers in my classes so I figured it was a good bet. Thanks for the confirmation. See you on Tuesday!

Hi Jeanette: Just a note to say “Thank you” for the lovely bookmark.
That was so thoughtful of you to remember our class. Hope you
have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great vacation.
Regards, Marilyn Schneider

“Dance is one of the most powerful forms of magical ritual… It is an outer expression of the inner spirit.” ~Ted Andrews

Novato & San Rafael Classes Phone: (707) 642-3603

Testimonials

"It's been 8 years since retirement and joining Jeanette's classes. I am fitter than when I started, and definitely younger. I have graduated to aerobics and this past year I outdistanced younger companions while traveling in Spain."